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Greens will not support Labor amendments to medical evacuation bill – politics live Greens back at the bargaining table over medical evacuation bill – politics live
(35 minutes later)
Emma Husar has just tweeted this We’re now getting an early dose of ‘just how strong are our borders, very, but Labor will burn them down’ from Peter Dutton, because second Monday is the gift that just keeps on giving.
Just swallow your rage. Even if it makes you choke. This is a pretty great example of “whatever, your face is”.
This is a MAJOR problem for the numbers, even if Labor and the crossbench come to an agreement. From Rosie Lewis and Michael Roddan at the Australian: From Chris Knaus:
Rogue Labor MP Emma Husar has not turned up to parliament, potentially causing a major upset for Bill Shorten who could have an historic win over the government on the medivac bill and cause chaos for Scott Morrison by adding an extra two sitting weeks to the calendar. The billionaire and major political donor Huang Xiangmo has likened Australia to a “giant baby” with “simple folk customs” while hitting out at a decision to cancel his visa.
Labor sources have confirmed the party was trying to locate Ms Husar, who has been estranged from her colleagues since she says she was forced not to contest her Sydney electorate of Lindsay and was “slut shamed” in the midst of a controversy over her management and treatment of former staffers. Huang also criticised Australia’s domestic spy agency for acting contrary to Australian support for the One China policy, and urged it to instead investigate journalists who he said may be “serving foreign intelligence agencies” and had stolen “classified information to gain attention and a spotlight”.
The whole story is here The Chinese tycoon was effectively blocked from re-entering Australia when his permanent residency visa was revoked and a citizenship bid was rejected
The bells have rung. Oof
The mad house is officially open for business. Emma Husar is in parliament. Or at least, outside it.
Oh the government is still not chipping in any money for the cross river rail, Queensland’s number one infrastructure project (for like, ever) because the state Labor government got fed up with the lack of commitment and said it would fully fund it itself. If I am not in #Parliament not sure what this place is. @australian pic.twitter.com/a9Mamoo46g
So Alan Tudge said now that it’s fully funded, the government will spend the money it would have used to fund it, but didn’t actually commit to it, elsewhere in Queensland. Bridget McKenzie just gave the greatest Mike Moore hhhhmmmmmmmmmm to Kim Brennan (gold medallist and chair of the Australia Olympic Committee’s Athletes Commission) I have heard in quite some time.
Some days, I literally can’t even with this place. Peter Dutton is in the second most fancy government press spot to talk about this:
“Team Queensland”, which is absolutely a thing (for reasons which escape me because even a cursory look over the marketing would suggest that is a terrible idea) has gathered behind Alan Tudge to welcome the southeast Queensland city deal. The minister for sport, the Hon Bridget McKenzie and the minister for home affairs, the Hon Peter Dutton, will outline the Australian government response to the Wood Report of the Review of Australia’s Sports Integrity Arrangements.
(Peter Dutton is the “captain” of Team Queensland. These are actually things which are said by people with power in this place.) He is talking about weekend kids sport and something, something cricket.
From the release: Folks following on at home can see there are a lot of moving parts on the asylum story.
The Morrison government has committed to working with the Queensland government and local councils in south-east Queensland to develop a City Deal for the region. The parts are still moving. But here is the best update I can provide about where things are currently at:
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the federal government was already delivering billions of dollars of funding for congestion-busting roads and rail projects and this new deal would help unlock further investment. If we can look through the noise of the news cycle, with people assuming ambit positions, it seems that negotiations are proceeding behind the scenes relatively productively.
‘I want people to get home sooner and have dinner as a family. I want tradies to spend less time on the road and more time at the worksite,’ the prime minister said. I hear the Greens having threatened to sink the package this morning are now back at the table, having had some of their concerns assuaged. So don’t assume they kill the legislation. It might happen, but it doesn’t look like it right at the moment.
‘We want to ensure Queensland remains a major tourism destination and one of the world’s premier locations to live, work and raise a family.’ Specifically, I hear a time frame for determinations (which was Richard Di Natale’s main concern) has been resolved. The word is 48 hours, not 24 as was originally proposed.
It will be the second City Deal for Queensland following the policy being first established in Townsville. All the information I have to hand suggests the other crossbenchers are still at the table.
It comes in addition to the Morrison government piloting a Regional Deal for the Bundaberg Hervey Bay region. There was a flurry about 20 minutes ago about the whereabouts of the Labor MP Emma Husar, but Labor people assure me she’s in Canberra.
The commitment to an SEQ City Deal is supported by Queensland LNP MPs and senators who have campaigned for funding to support the diverse sectors within the region including tourism, manufacturing and education. I guess it remains moot whether she is in the building at the critical time.
The Morrison government has been working with the SEQ Council of Mayors, in particular Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, on the recently released People Mass Movement study which explores the impact of population growth on the region’s ability to cope with future transport demand. Pack lunch and a drink bottle. It’s going to be a long day.
Minister for Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population Alan Tudge said the Liberal and Nationals government was committed to the people of south-east Queensland and to making the region even more liveable than it already is. In the Senate, Labor is supporting this Greens amendment:
‘South-east Queensland is already home to over two thirds of the state’s population and is expected to accommodate 5.3 million people within 25 years’ time,’ Minister Tudge said. The Senate:
‘We need to cater for this rising population and the SEQ City Deal will be a huge step forward in making sure the people of south-east Queensland get the most out of living in this beautiful region. 1. Notes with alarm:
Speaking after his Sky News interview, Richard Di Natale said Labor needed to come back to the negotiating table, now that the party had moved the goal posts: a. The crisis that has unfolded in Menindee Lakes over the summer with unprecedented fish deaths;
The Labor party need to decide if they’re going to work with the Greens, the crossbench, the refugee advocates, indeed many decent people right across the country who want to see sick people get the care when they need it,” he said. b. The Productivity Commission report into the implementation of the Murray Darling Basin plan;
Right now, the concern that we have and this is based on considered legal opinion is the amendments put forward by the Labor party may make the situation worse than doing nothing. c. The findings of the South Australian Murray Darling Basin Royal Commission; and
We are currently seeing some people albeit it far too slowly being evacuated from Manus and Nauru for medical treatment. d. The 1500GL cap on water buybacks for environmental water.
The amendments particularly the amendment that proposes an open time frame in terms of when evacuations should occur could actually make it harder than is currently the case. 2. Is of the opinion that the 1500GL cap on water buybacks be repealed.
So what we need to see is we need to see the Labor party ... We need to see Bill Shorten stop playing politics. 3. That so much of standing order 111 be suspended, as would prevent Senator Pratt moving that the following bill be introduced at 6 pm today:
He supported this legislation in December. He supported this legislation, and now over the space of two months, a bit of pressure from the Morrison government and from some of the rightwing media and he’s going to water. A Bill for an Act to amend the Water Act 2007, and for related purposes.
.@RichardDiNatale on border bill battle: We want people who are sick to get access to medical care quickly. Any amendment put forward by Labor that slows down the process we will not support.MORE: https://t.co/kHdn5KPn1p #newsday pic.twitter.com/gE1DY25Nyf Short Title:
All this and the bells marking the beginning of the first 2019 sitting haven’t even rung yet. Water Amendment (Purchase Limit Repeal) Bill 2019.
This is shaping up to be a margarita day. This is all moving very fast today (which makes sense, because really, there is not a lot of time to get this sorted).
Ben Davies, from memory, left Michaelia Cash’s office in January last year, with “family” given as the official reason. Joel Fitzgibbon was seen chasing Cathy McGowan, Kerryn Phelps, Julia Banks and Rebehka Sharkie out of the chamber when they left, and chatting to them outside the door for quite some time.
Michaelia Cash’s former chief of staff Ben Davies told her then media adviser, David De Garis, that federal police were set to raid the Australian Workers Union’s offices, the federal court has heard. Emma Husar (who we all hope is OK) is in Canberra, but not in the parliament.
De Garis was ordered on Tuesday to give evidence about his decision to tip off the media about the dramatic raids in October 2017, after Justice Mordecai Bromberg rejected his request to refuse to answer to avoid self-incrimination. The Greens want amendments to the amendments.
Asked who had told him, De Garis told the court: “Chief of staff Ben Davies.” Davies is Cash’s former chief of staff and is also scheduled to give evidence this week. And everyone who was going to say yes late last year has to say yes now for it to pass.
De Garis said Davies had asked him to come to his office and had told him in person that the raids would take place later that afternoon. Strap in.
He said could not remember any details beyond that. Also the bad show has seemingly lived up to its (nick)name
The AWU’s lawyer, Herman Borenstein QC, questioned De Garis’ evidence, saying he was “loth to do this” before asking Bromberg whether he could ask leading questions. Most people probably expected there to be a cash refund dividend imputation question on @QandA last night - what Australians didn’t expect is that it would be asked by a Young Liberal plant in the Q&A audience. 👇👇 pic.twitter.com/qg5PQyERnk
“You have not been loth to do this but I’m happy to,” De Garis replied, before he was asked to leave the courtroom briefly. I wrote a script to go through every franking credit inquiry submission to see how many used @TimWilsonMP's campaign website template - at least 97 so far, with more to come https://t.co/470TYaXucZ
“There is a real question about whether he’s trying to answer the questions truly and frankly or hiding behind a mantra of not being able to recall,” Borenstein said. In the Senate, which, for the first time in quite some time, is NOT the centre of the clusterforkery, Sarah Hanson-Young is attempting to suspend standing orders to debate what on earth has happened with the Murray-Darling Basin plan, and the ecological disaster we saw earlier this year.
But Bromberg said he was “not satisfied the witness is not making a genuine attempt”.
De Garis is continuing to give evidence.
The Greens, making fetch happen at the Adani protest this morning, as seen by Mike Bowers.
“Unless you’ve actually got a specified figure, you don’t improve the situation, you potentially make it worse,” Richard Di Natale says of the lack of a time figure on the timing of the ministerial approval or rejection.
Basically, the Greens want an absolute watertight timeframe put on how long the minister can take to approve or reject a transfer request. The legislation at the moment says 24 hours. The government argued that was not enough time. Labor proposed amending it to something along the lines of as soon as is practical. The Greens say that will just allow the government to delay dealing with transfers as long as they want.
“If you need urgent medical care, you don’t need to go to court, you need a doctor. And urgently,” Di Natale said.
The Greens leader said the party is “open to a conversation” but they believe the three amendments just “make it harder” for people to get medical treatment.
Richard Di Natale says the Greens won’t support any amendment which means it takes longer for asylum seekers and refugees to get medical treatment.
“The amendments that have been put forward by the Labor party, at the moment, potentially make the situation worse than doing nothing,” he tells Sky News, saying that is what he has been told from the refugee sector and those who have followed these cases through the courts.
Tony Burke had a chat to ABC Adelaide radio this morning. The transcript reports this exchange:
BEVAN: Now your opposite number is Christopher Pyne from South Australia. He’s the manager of government business. We learned yesterday that he saw Malcolm Turnbull as his “Aslan”. Do you see Bill Shorten as your “Aslan”?
CLARKE: And for those playing along at home Aslan of course is?
BEVAN: The lion, from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Do you dreamy-eyed look across at Bill Shorten saying, you’re my Aslan?
BURKE: I’ve got to say it does fall short of that. I loved those CS Lewis books as a kid. I read them all. Every single one of them. But of course Aslan is there is a bit of a “Christ figure” and I don’t think any member of parliament quite fits that bill.
CLARKE: So is Bill Shorten your luck dragon maybe?
BURKE: Bill’s the leader of the party and I really, really hope that we get a Shorten Labor government soon.
You can find that reference in David Wroe’s story, here
And I guess that makes Pyne ... Edmund?
The PMO has released the transcript of Scott Morrison’s doorstop this morning:
JOURNALIST: Prime minister, if you lose the medevac bill today, why should you not drive to Government House and call an election?
PRIME MINISTER: It’s not a matter [inaudible], that’s why. I mean, the independents have said that themselves. So I think they’ve answered their own question. That matter will be determined I assume later in the parliament today. I have made it pretty clear that the bill is acceptable in no form. We will not be giving any comfort or any licence for the parliament to support this in any way, shape or form.
JOURNALIST: Will you allow it to come on for a debate today though?
PRIME MINISTER: It does come on for a debate today, that’s the process.
JOURNALIST: So you will consider absolutely no Labor amendments to this bill whatsoever?
PRIME MINISTER: This bill is acceptable in absolutely no form. It only weakens our borders, it does not strengthen them. I will not give a leave pass to this parliament to weaken our borders. Thanks very much.
You may remember from Luke’s report yesterday, that David de Garis declined to answer how he found out about the AWU raid. Looks like shiz is about to get reeeal interesting in the federal court.
Justice Bromberg has ruled Michaelia Cash's former media adviser David De Garis will have to give evidence about who tipped him off that federal police were set to raid the AWU's offices. #auspol
From this morning
For any National party voters, that guy in the red tie is the leader of the party and the deputy prime minister.
Labor of course, is not having a caucus meeting this morning, having spent two hours dealing with those issues last night.